Paternalism: “I know you better than you do” says government

Let’s talk about Paternalism for a moment. This has been on my mind for a couple of days, triggered by a TV commercial regarding Ohio’s seatbelt law. Now, most people agree that wearing seatbelts in cars is good and people want to be safe while they are driving, but look at the big picture here. Why is there a law requiring it? The government is trying to make all of our decisions for us because obviously we aren’t smart enough to make them for ourselves.

And this is happening everywhere. With drug laws, laws regarding suicide, smoking, alcohol, pornography, and the reasons are all the same; the government is “trying to keep us safe.” Safe from what? From ourselves? I think most people would agree that we are more capable than the government of making decisions about our personal safety.

I think it’s time for our teenage nation to stand up and fight for the right to decide for ourselves what is safe and what isn’t. Maybe we’ll get hurt, maybe we’ll make mistakes, but dammit, they’ll be our mistakes!